But then Amos does something that takes the judgment up to another level.
I would say level 11.

Amos leaves the pulpit.

Amos wasn’t even the feature act.
He was the opener.

And the headliner comes on stage in verse 21.
That headliner is God himself!

God speaks directly to his people in verses 21-24, and it becomes clear that the relationship between God and God’s children is strained.
And God uses very harsh language and cuts to the bone.
God declares that He “hates” and “rejects” every aspect of Israelite ritual –
the solemn festivals,
offerings of sacrifice,
even the music, (you better run, Bill!)
Why is God mad?
First let me say that God does not reject these rituals because they are
improper,
or false,
or because they are offered to other gods.

God rejects the rituals because they have become style over substance.
The rituals have replaced the actual service.
And because of that, God sees an absence.
An absence of justice and righteousness;
And if Israel will not commit to these things, then there can be no real relationship with God.
So our passage ends with two DEMANDS from God.
Notice I say DEMANDS
and not COMMANDMENTS,
because I believe
at this point
God is not messing around with the To Do list.
God demands Israel take away the “noise” of their singing,
And “let justice flow down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

In other words,
As the worship ends, let the service begin.
If that sounds familiar it’s because that is what I say at the end of our worship services.
As we end the worship,
We begin our service.

This is where that comes from.

And that is why I wanted to talk to you this morning about Amos,
But more importantly I wanted to talk to you about us.

What we do here on a Sunday morning is important.
It’s not only important it’s essential.
We come together after a week apart.
We see friends we haven’t seen all week.
We catch up on our lives.
And then we sing.
We pray.
We share a meal together.
We pass the peace.
And then we go home.

But over time it can feels like using shampoo.

Rinse.
Lather.
Repeat.
Rinse.
Lather.
Repeat.

And when our faith becomes like shampoo,
Pretty soon this ritual becomes a ROUTINE

And before you know it, style takes over.
And substance takes a back seat.

For instance:

A few years ago, a Christian was considered a “regular” worshipper of God if he or she came to church at least 3 out of 4 times a month.
Now: that number is 1 time every six weeks.

Have you ever heard “20% of the people do 80% of the work?”
I can tell you now it’s more like “10% do 90%”

We come late, we leave early.

We play on our phones during worship (and it’s not just the Youth who do this)

We don’t sing. We don’t pray.

We complain about church being so early on a Sunday morning,
And yet if we get the chance to play golf at the crack of dawn over at Eagle Pointe Gold Clube I just right at it!

I meant WE jump.

Or so I heard…

We don’t bring our children to Sunday School or Youth Events and then are amazed when the kids get older and they start to question God or leave the church.

We will judge someone’s sins on the other side of the political fence (BAD BAD BAD)
, but when those sins are committed by someone from our party, GRACE GRACE GRACE!

We have let the rituals replace our actions.
We have rinsed and lathered our faith for a long time.

And God is telling us:
“Folks, I hate it when you rinse lather and repeat our relationship.”

And do you know why God uses words like “hate” in this Passage?

He says he hates it because when we put style over substance, when we put the SHOW of faith over the Faith itself,
It means we don’t take God’s love for us seriously.
And we waste it.
We ignore it.
We use it for OUR benefit.

God hates that, because it breaks God’s heart.

And God wants his servants to get back to WANTING to be his servants.

There is more to this Christian…lifestyle…than what we do for an hour or so on a Sunday morning.

Being a Christian means being a servant of God 24 hours 7 days a week.
Being a Christian means:

• Acting on the promises we make to God this morning.
• Living in the promises God has made to us
• Loving our neighbors just as much as we claim to

A couple of challenges for you this week:

I challenge you to take your bulletin home, use it as a devotional, underline a word from the liturgy, the Bible, a song, and pray over that word. And then use the bulletin as a journal to write down what you did each day to make your faith real.

Here’s an easy one: when you are at the drive thru: pay for the meal of the car behind you.
This happened to me last week.
And all I got was a Diet Coke, and I was like “Um, is it too late to add to the order?”
But that is something you can easily do

Special challenge to those who use social media:
Share your experiences of making faith real
Take a picture of a cause or event that touches your soul and want us to know about
Take a picture of a bird, a tree, your child, spouse, family, friends and write a Thank you, God for that moment, and then “I promise you, God” to take care of said person in picture.

These challenges are not to confront you but encourage you to be the people we CLAIM to be.

And not to rinse and lather and repeat
And let the rituals ruin it for us.